July 20, 2021 Monthly Meeting
PROGRAM: Plants Go to War: A Botanical History of World War II
with Judith Sumner, Botanist and Author
with Judith Sumner, Botanist and Author
ABOUT THE PROGRAM:
We will look at military history from a botanical perspective, from victory gardens and agriculture to timber, rubber, coal, and cotton, the many plant products that supplied the military and the home front during a time of intense need and high demand. The talk will include a special look at medicinal plants, including their use in the Pacific war, the County Herb Committees in England, and the development of penicillin as a critical wartime drug. Join us for a unique view of World War II through a botanical lens. In short, we would not have won the war without plants!
We will look at military history from a botanical perspective, from victory gardens and agriculture to timber, rubber, coal, and cotton, the many plant products that supplied the military and the home front during a time of intense need and high demand. The talk will include a special look at medicinal plants, including their use in the Pacific war, the County Herb Committees in England, and the development of penicillin as a critical wartime drug. Join us for a unique view of World War II through a botanical lens. In short, we would not have won the war without plants!
ABOUT JUDITH:
Judith Sumner is a botanist who specializes in flowering plants, plant adaptations, garden history, and ethnobotany. She has taught extensively both at the college level and at botanical gardens, including the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Garden in the Woods. She studied at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and at the British Museum (Natural History) and did extensive field work in the Pacific region on the genus Pittosporum, leading to several publications. Her other projects and areas of interest have included field studies in the Great Smoky Mountains and work with AID/Santo Domingo on developing petroleum-rich plants. She is the author of The Natural History of Medicinal Plants, American Household Botany: A History of Useful Plants, 1620-1900) and Plants Go to War: A Botanical History of World War II. She is currently finishing a new book on the botanical history of the American Civil War.
Judith has been the lecturer-in-residence at the Star Island Natural History Conference, and she has been a guest on the Martha Stewart Living television show, the PBS program “Cultivating Life” with Sean Conway, and various other PBS and educational programs. She lectures nationally at botanical gardens., symposia, and museums, including the FDR Archives, Kykuit, and the New York Botanical Garden. During the summers, she has served as a visiting scientist in the LEAP program at the Arnold Arboretum and has led workshops for the Museum Institutes for Teaching Science. She has also served as a National Public Radio STEM mentor. Judith is a frequent consultant with school districts on science writing, inquiry-based learning, and classroom science using plants. In her spare time, Judith is an avid shade gardener.
For More Information, go to:
www.judithsumner.com
www.greatgardenspeakers.co
Judith Sumner is a botanist who specializes in flowering plants, plant adaptations, garden history, and ethnobotany. She has taught extensively both at the college level and at botanical gardens, including the Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University and Garden in the Woods. She studied at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and at the British Museum (Natural History) and did extensive field work in the Pacific region on the genus Pittosporum, leading to several publications. Her other projects and areas of interest have included field studies in the Great Smoky Mountains and work with AID/Santo Domingo on developing petroleum-rich plants. She is the author of The Natural History of Medicinal Plants, American Household Botany: A History of Useful Plants, 1620-1900) and Plants Go to War: A Botanical History of World War II. She is currently finishing a new book on the botanical history of the American Civil War.
Judith has been the lecturer-in-residence at the Star Island Natural History Conference, and she has been a guest on the Martha Stewart Living television show, the PBS program “Cultivating Life” with Sean Conway, and various other PBS and educational programs. She lectures nationally at botanical gardens., symposia, and museums, including the FDR Archives, Kykuit, and the New York Botanical Garden. During the summers, she has served as a visiting scientist in the LEAP program at the Arnold Arboretum and has led workshops for the Museum Institutes for Teaching Science. She has also served as a National Public Radio STEM mentor. Judith is a frequent consultant with school districts on science writing, inquiry-based learning, and classroom science using plants. In her spare time, Judith is an avid shade gardener.
For More Information, go to:
www.judithsumner.com
www.greatgardenspeakers.co
2021 Program Committee:
Members: Minor Knight, Mary Lou DeLong, Kathy Kitsock and Anda Woodward.
Members: Minor Knight, Mary Lou DeLong, Kathy Kitsock and Anda Woodward.